


when the sun rises again

by UpperMoonTwo



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Angst, Established Relationship, M/M, Slight Canon Divergence, it's all fun and games until ur pissed off bf comes back from the dead, spoilers for p5r
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-30
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:55:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26202268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UpperMoonTwo/pseuds/UpperMoonTwo
Summary: Over the past year, Akira Kurusu has come to find that anything is possible no matter how unexpected. How could he not after all that’s happened? His life after transferring to Shujin reads like a fantastical fairytale. Like a school transforming into a medieval castle out of thin air as he approached it or being able to take on the persona of a masked vigilante. He didn’t think anything could surprise him anymore. Well, that was until a familiar person showed up on Leblanc’s front doorstep.
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Kurusu Akira, Akechi Goro/Persona 5 Protagonist
Comments: 2
Kudos: 61





	when the sun rises again

Over the past year, Akira Kurusu has come to find that anything is possible no matter how unexpected. How could he not after all that’s happened? His life after transferring to Shujin reads like a fantastical fairytale. Like a school transforming into a medieval castle out of thin air as he approached it or being able to take on the persona of a masked vigilante. He didn’t think anything could surprise him anymore. Well, that was until a familiar person showed up on Leblanc’s front doorstep.

“I believe we have unfinished business,” he says quietly, avoiding Akira’s gaze.

And so they walk together. Nowhere far, just far enough where no one will eavesdrop on their conversation. They settle for a small, run-down laundromat. As soon as Akira gets a better look at Akechi under the flickering fluorescent light, he notices how tired he looks. There’s ugly dark circles under his eyes and his entire expression looks sunken when normally he’d be glowing.

There’s no more lies or pretenses between them. The mask of Goro Akechi, the second advent of the detective prince, has been retired. All that remains beneath is Goro, tired, raw, and from the looks of it, very pissed off.

“What’s going on?” Akira asks conversationally, leaning against one of the washers. He knows nothing good, of course, but he might as well pretend that this is just a casual chat among friends.

Akechi brushes some dust off his coat and finally meets Akira’s gaze head on with knitted eyebrows. “That seems as good a place to begin as any. At the end of last year, I turned myself in to the police as the perpetrator of the serial psychotic breakdown incidents. Your memory of this is still intact, correct?”

He could’ve never forgotten the shock he felt in that moment as he stood in Central Square with Sae Nijima and he saw Akechi again. He had just walked up, snowflakes entangled in his long hair with no signs of injury. He was beautiful and alive! No gunshot wounds, no blood, no bruises. He looked like any normal teenager for the first time. 

“But how are you still alive?” Akira asks and immediately feels like slapping himself. Tactfulness never was his forte.

“Ah, yes.” Akechi closes his eyes with a deep sigh. “We have greater concerns right now.”

“Like what?” Akira says incredulously, “What could be of more concern than you returning from the dead?”

Akechi closes the distance between them quickly, leaving Akira feeling cornered and trapped. He’s already backed up against the washing machine and has nowhere else to go with Akechi blocking his only exit. 

“Don’t act like you don’t know,” Akechi says in a low, dangerous tone. It’s a tone Akira has only heard a few times and never thought he would hear again.

Akira swallows the lump in his throat. It’s only ever Akechi that can make him feel this nervous. He let Akechi in all those months ago, gave him a way to hurt him if he chose to. It had come back to bite him once before and now it seemed like it would again. “I really don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“What happened after I… ‘died’? There’s a sizable gap of my memory missing.”

Akira considers his next words very carefully. He doesn’t want to say anything that will set Akechi off even further but he’s just as confused. Ever since the death of the god of control nothing has been as it should be. “We changed Shido’s heart like you asked us to. Then we destroyed the metaverse.”

“Destroyed… the metaverse? Are you absolutely certain that it’s gone?”

“I’m sure,” Akira says with a nod.

“Show me your phone!” Akechi says, already fumbling at Akira’s pockets to get the device.

“Calm down. I’ll let you see it. No need to get physical.” Akira pulls out his phone and unlocked it before handing it over.

Akechi snatches the phone out of Akira’s hands and searches through it quickly. He scrolls through all of the screens multiple times, scanning for the familiar app thumbnail and getting increasingly frustrated when it’s not there. “How is-?”

“I told you. The metaverse is gone. We erased it for good.”

Akechi practically seems to deflate at the news, setting Akira’s phone back down on top of the washer. “What did you do to bring me back if the metaverse is gone?”

“I didn’t-”

“I thought at first it might have something to do with cognition. The link between reality and cognition is still largely unexplored so I couldn’t entirely rule it out. I even considered the possibility that I, myself, might be a cognition right now living in someone’s palace,” Akechi says, “I don’t understand. What did you do?”

“I told you I didn’t do anything,” Akira says in frustration.

Akechi grabs Akira’s shirt and pulls him down to the dirty floor roughly. He’s forced to sit while Akechi crouches over him, one hand around his collar and the other wrapped around a small knife held against his throat. The knife doesn’t cut but Akira can feel the cold metal against his skin. It sets his teeth on edge.

“You did something. It’s always you. It always has been. If you hadn’t come into my life… everything would still be alright. You ruined everything and you don’t even care that I didn’t want you here.”

“Goro…” Akira says slowly, testing the waters to see whether or not Akechi really intends on slitting his throat in a dingy laundromat in the middle of the night. He has no doubt he could put up a decent fight but still he would rather avoid a physical confrontation if possible.

Akechi looks down, his eyes obscured by his long hair and the low light. “Why? I didn’t want to come back. I don’t deserve to be alive.”

“That’s not true!”

“Isn’t it!?” Akechi tightens his grip around the knife handle, his knuckles turning white under the strain. “My entire life has been controlled by someone else. I don’t expect you to understand but dying was the first choice I ever made for myself. It was the only way I could take back the control I had stripped away from me. Bringing me back like this is unbelievably cruel.”

“All you’re doing by dying without anyone knowing the truth is helping Shido! He wanted you to just disappear and take all the blame for what he did! By living you can see him brought to justice.”

“Why should a murderer like me get a chance like that? I’m just a tool. At least by dying I can no longer be used.”

“You’re not just a tool!” Akira says, almost shouting, “what about all the things we did over this last year? Playing billiards together, going to your favorite jazz club, going on all those dates? Don’t those mean anything? You’re more than just a tool; you’re a human being!”

“They didn’t mean anything. I hate you. I always have.”

Akira’s heart sinks at those words but he can’t bring himself to believe them. He had seen a part of Akechi that no one else had. He’d seen him smile genuinely, not the fake, forced smiles he did for his tv appearances. He’d gotten him to open up about his family. He’d seen him cry over a cup of coffee one night as they talked about destiny.

“If they really didn’t mean anything then why don’t you kill me?”

“W-what?”

Akira clenches his fist at his side, fighting back tears. “If you really don’t care then why don’t you just end it here? It’s like you’ve said I’ve always just been in your way. If I hadn’t shown up in your life, you’d have what you wanted already. You say you’re a ruthless murderer—just a tool—so prove it. Kill me.”

Akechi presses the knife harder into Akira’s necks. It begins to make a small line of blood when he stops suddenly, the knife slipping loosely between his fingers. In the flickering light above, Akira can see tears in the other boy’s eyes.

“I can’t. I can’t do it.”

Akira grabs the knife and slides it out of his reach before moving to comfort Akechi.

“Don’t touch me!” he yells, pulling away. He climbs to his feet shakily and looks as though he’s about to bolt.

“Goro, dont,” Akira says firmly, “Don’t leave. I don’t know what’s going on either but I didn’t have anything to do with it. I promise you that. We can figure it out together but you have to trust me.”

A tense moment of silence passes where Akira isn’t sure whether or not Akechi will push past him and never be seen again. He’s already lost him once; he doesn’t know if he can handle it a second time. 

“Alright.” As he turns around, all his tears have dried and he looks composed again as if their previous exchange hadn’t happened. He always was good at rebounding like that.

“I need to look into some things,” Akira says, extending a hand like an olive branch, “meet me at Leblanc at the end of the week?”

“Okay,” Akechi says, shaking Akira’s hand. For a moment, it’s almost like it’s last summer again. “I’ll investigate on my own too. I’ll see you then.”

**Author's Note:**

> My twt: [@JusticeArcxna](https://twitter.com/JusticeArcxna)


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